5/7/16
English 2nd;SS3rd
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was the hope of millions of African Americans living in the 1960’s. This civil rights bill prohibited discrimination in voting, education, employment, and in public places like pools, restaurants, and schools. Finally, their dream of equality was becoming true. President John F. Kennedy was willing to pass this bill, when suddenly he was assassinated. When vice president Lyndon B. Johnson came to power he signed and passed a bill that he had first opposed when serving as the Senate Majority leader. Was this decision made from a true change of heart, or was it provoked by political forces? In other words, was President L.B.J motivated to pass this …show more content…
In other words he only passed the bill to win the crowd, not because it was his beliefs. In fact, he opposed such bills when he was the Senate Majority leader. In a cartoon from the Chicago Tribune aimed at his sudden change of heart, it shows how L.B.J struggled over his past actions in the Senate(Chicago Tribune, 1964). Although he didn’t directly oppose the 1957 civil rights bill, he did help pass a provision that made it a watered-down civil rights bill. As a Senator, L.B.J believed that it was the state’s job to provide civil rights, not the federal government’s. As a result, during his presidency many people were suspicious of his sudden change of heart. In a interview with Roy Wilkins, an important African American civil-rights leader, L.B.J is asked why he had taken so long to act on the civil rights issue. If he felt so strongly about passing the bill, why did he fight against before? In response, L.B.J quoted Martin Luther King Jr, saying,”Free at least, free at last. Thank God almighty i’m free at last.” However all of his eloquent talk, could not entirely convince the suspicions of civil-rights